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After the little "corruption" :) that took place in the office productivity software suite called OpenOffice or the community in general, almost all GNU/Linux operating systems are now switching or already shipping LibreOffiice (one of the best office suite for GNU/Linux, already :D) with their distributions. Starting with the version 11.04 in Ubuntu and Fedora Core 15, instead of the old OpenOffice we have Libre!.

And the latest news is that they've updated and released LibreOffice to the version 3.4 few hours ago!. The most easily noticeable thing with this update is the start up time. Although you may not notice a huge difference since LibreOffice is certainly faster than the OpenOffice yet.. it is starting to speed things up :).

Anyhow, starting with the usual bug fixes (around 8000!, what a "bug")... the 3.4 version does bring some noticeable improvements such as...

*. New drop shadow/gradient is added to the Writer (the default writing app).

*. Improved compability with ODF.

*. A faster and stable graphic "engine" is introduced.

*. A new/redesigned copy/paste/edit sheet dialog box for Calc.

*. Improve HTML export with an image thumbnail gallery for the Draw/Impress.

*. Unity global menu initial support is added!.

*. Faster text rendering.

These are handful of new features in this 3.4 release to mention. And if you want to install LibreOffice 3.4 final version in Ubuntu 11.04 Natty Narwhal or 10.10/10.04 then you can add the below PPA to your system but they haven't released a the files yet, but I'm pretty sure you should be able to get it within the next few hours.

So open your Terminal and enter the below command which should install LibreOffice 3.4 in your Ubuntu OS when released (by the time you read this post, it could've been already released.. so try it).

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:libreoffice/ppa

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install libreoffice

If you use Gnome classic desktop then use the below command afterward.

sudo apt-get install libreoffice-gnome

If you use KDE, then use the below one instead.

sudo apt-get install libreoffice-kde

Manual installation of LibreOffice 3.4 (Ubuntu only)

Note: All the below steps (from 1 to 11) are only required if you have installed LibreOffice software previously from the PPA or a manual installation. So, if you haven't done anything like that (let's learn Linux command line then :D) and have the system that comes with the Unity by default then use the below command and skip the first 5 "steps" and go the "6" th straight away.

sudo apt-get purge libreoffice-core

If you can't wait till they release the PPA of this amazing office suite for GNU/Linux (I totally understand :P) then you can manually install it.

1. First we have to remove the currently installed LibreOffice from Ubuntu. To do that, open your Terminal and enter the below command.

sudo synaptic

2. In the search box search for the below text.

libreoffice

3. Search for a package named "libreoffice3". Right click on it and choose "Mark for Complete Removal" and when prompted accept the additional changes.

4. Then scroll down until you see the above mentioned "libreoffice" package in Synaptic window and again right click on it and choose "Mark for Complete Removal". When asked, accept the additional changes.

5. Now click on the "Apply" button on Synaptic package manager and mark every single listed package for complete removal. And your current LibreOffice should be completely removed after that.

6. Now (not necessary but just reboot your PC, just in case) download the LibreOffice 3.4 .deb from here . If you use the 64-bit version, then get it from here. Now extract the content, say to your "desktop".

7. Open the extracted folder in Nautilus file manager (the folder should be called "LibO_3.4.0_Linux_x86_install-deb_en-US" ... or "LibO_3.4.0_Linux_x86_64_install-deb_en-US" for 64-bit version).

8. Now you should see a folder called "DEBS" in that extracted folder. Open that folder using your Terminal.

9. Then enter the below command in that opened Terminal window.

sudo dpkg -i *.deb

10. Now use the next command which will integrate the LibreOffice with your OS desktop (shortcuts, etc).

cd desktop-integration

11. Now the last part (if you're still with me :) ), use the below command which is the last of all commands :P.

sudo dpkg -i *.deb

Now you should have LibreOffice 3.4 installed in Ubuntu 11.04/10.10 and 10.04, at last, and have learned a bit about GNU/Linux in 10 minutes (no worries, I'm also one of those Dummies as well :D).

Will all LibreOffice releases come to the Ubuntu PPA? I am asking, because the LibreOffice team announced their release strategy so that zero-releases (e.g. 3.4.) are less stable and for early adopters. Point releases such as 3.3.2 are more stable and for "production use". I would be definitively in favor of having every LibreOffice release in the PPA. Will it be like that? Will 3.4 come to the PPA? Thanks.

There is actually a difference when using sudo vs gksudo. On rare occassions it's going to break your user settings/configuration files, such as .ICEeuthority file changed to root by using sudo. gksudo uses root's own files not the user's when runnning apps. That is why it is important to use gksudo when running GUI apps with escalated privilege. :)